Royse, who was born and raised in Wichita, worked in his hometown for 26 years before becoming Chief of the Junction City Fire Department.

With an aim at saving lives and property, Royse says prevention is his number one priority.

“I’ve always been a proponent that you can place your resources and your assests on the response side, which is the fun stuff – the guys riding on the engines and having fun. Or you can place them on the prevention side where the guys don’t have to go.”

Royse takes over after upgrades have been completed to Fire Station Number 1 and improvements could be in line for Fire Station Number 4 in 2017 or 2018.

Over the next five years, analysis will determine if the growth of Salina means moving or adding a station to protect the public.

“Anytime you add a station, the station itself is the easy part, that’s a fixed asset,” Chief Royse said.

“It’s the manning and staffing, which is about 94-percent of our budget.”